Its come to my attention over time thats parts for our cars are hard source and expensive. Availability of quality kit is poor from within the uk and oem parts are dropping off the availability list like flys. Being an entusiast club part of our responsibility is to ensure the marque is represented and preserved. A serious prerequiset to this is availability of parts. Most other cars have many pattern parts available, and aftermarket stuff, we simply dont. I do not wish to pick on anyone but compare our z part retailers to those in the us or oz, zcentre is tiny, its not even affilated with the owners club! Not to mrntion the price. Getting onto the twinz range, that cannot be sorted.

It's a sad state that the 3rd? Biggest ownership worldwide cannot produce a sustainable and progress range of parts, that we have to make international orders to a country on the otherside of the world to get things of decent quality, and price. I applaud companies like sfs for making good parts for us, but I think its high time we started brain storming a better way that the current reliance on the us.

So how do we move forward? How do we push the z32 out of this stagnent position of poor parts, high prices and poor availability. Theres enough.of us at the end of the day. How do we move the club away from the screen and into an owners club, are we the offical uk zxclub? Is there even one? I know this sounds like a rant but I want to still own my z in 20 years time

Its high time the z comunity raised its profile.

Im doing my bit i scraped a perfectly good shell that 200 would of secured it and i know others are buying to break probably for cash gain rather than bring down the numbers :)

 

As for zed numbers, i see no more than 30 at the shows at any one time.

Ok then i misunderstood you when you said `as it came from Nissan`. So wheels are ok what about air filter or is that too boy racer? I think you see my point there is a vast difference from a few mods and personal taste to totally changing the look of a zed with new lights, bumpers, spoiler and the rest of the crap that is out there. I think we agree to some degree however i think there is other people that actually go as far as to say that nothing should be changed on the car and it should be totally standard with standard rims and the lot.

 

As for these cars becoming scarce and becoming more collectable i cant see this happening. DO we not see this on countless for sale threads where zeds just dont sell so i doubt there will suddenly be more people that want them. Having tried to sell 2 zeds now with no real luck i dont think it is going to change. Ive said it before in other plafces when you ask for 4k plus for a zed you are into RX7 and skyline territory. Anything trying to break 6k gets into R33 GTR territory and to compete against that you will need a very nice, sensibly modded zed otherwise it will be another boy racer looking machine that you was talking about with a mismatched bodykit.

 

Couldn't agree more, there are no real BOY racers on this site the average age is simply too high for that to be true, most of the ugliest cars are created by older people it seems these days. hella flush is what the kids are loving at present, not fast and the furious neon displays.

Moving on to resale, and value there is no reason why the z32 should be worth less than the outlined above, other than popularity , many are scared of the z32 "often described as a ticking time bomb"(source banzai mag!) better awareness and shedding of this misconception is key and the club are the only people that can change this, you the membership. Recent involment in timeattack is really going to be pointing out that the zed is a potential monster, is actually a very capable handling car(for some reason people think they don't go round corners) which is why its key we grab hold of these things. I would love to see more z32 being used as drift cars, many say theyre not very good for this purpose but they have had tremendous success aboard for this use for along time.

As for keeping cars stock, I cannot honestly say I have seen a single concourse z32 in real life, most full stock examples are that way because no ones done anything to them for 20 years, clean stock examples are abnormally rare! and the standards of stock vehicles is dire in comparison to the ford world. Seriously if you think your z is clean have a good long look at the concourse fords, you could literally eat your dinner off the engine bay!

Lets try and move away from personal taste though, this is about strengthening our fan base and strengthening our supply base as well as getting more appropriate pricing, to protect the breed for the future.

Now for the bit some of you are going to get touchy about and im sorry but is needs addressing now because its got beyond a joke. I mentioned it earlier and it was breezed over.

REO's, now remember im not picking on anyone. I will now list the REO's as listed on the site and the last event they organised.

south east yassa:

4/9/2011 in fairness to the guy, suggested meets weren't even replied to on a few occasions. Having said that he hasn't even logged on since October.

south central BigH:

14/1/2012 how many turned up? several events and meets have happened since this in south central

devon and cornwall:

VACANT

Avon Somerset and Glos:Murt

Actaully stood down on the 12th of may 2012, it just hasn't been updated.

Thames valley:ZX-TT

red lyon meets have been occurring upto, Christmas last year, however zx-tt hasn't organised one since 31/10/2011

East Anglia:osty1

only took over on the 10th of march

midlands:jeff and Jamie

22/5/11 looks like other meets have occurred, but reo appointed one that's the last day I could see publicly advertised in the section.

north east and yorks:

VACANT

North west:turb0z & Quavey

21/08/2012

I will carry on and do the others but that's England, and theres a definite trend, were not talking the winter was rubbish were talking long term lack of meets. I do not blame the reo's if no one turns up your going to get disheartened. However this is a typical example of something we as a club are doing wrong, no sorting out meets and not turning up to the ones that are. As I've said this isn't personal I'm merely highlighting how bad this has become nationwide.

Oh and AMS have responded today very positively. :) I will keep you all posted.

Now for the bit some of you are going to get touchy about and im sorry but is needs addressing now because its got beyond a joke. I mentioned it earlier and it was breezed over.

REO's, now remember im not picking on anyone. I will now list the REO's as listed on the site and the last event they organised.

south east yassa:

4/9/2011 in fairness to the guy, suggested meets weren't even replied to on a few occasions. Having said that he hasn't even logged on since October.

south central BigH:

14/1/2012 how many turned up? several events and meets have happened since this in south central

devon and cornwall:

VACANT

Avon Somerset and Glos:Murt

Actaully stood down on the 12th of may 2012, it just hasn't been updated.

Thames valley:ZX-TT

red lyon meets have been occurring upto, Christmas last year, however zx-tt hasn't organised one since 31/10/2011

East Anglia:osty1

only took over on the 10th of march

midlands:jeff and Jamie

22/5/11 looks like other meets have occurred, but reo appointed one that's the last day I could see publicly advertised in the section.

north east and yorks:

VACANT

North west:turb0z & Quavey

21/08/2012

I will carry on and do the others but that's England, and theres a definite trend, were not talking the winter was rubbish were talking long term lack of meets. I do not blame the reo's if no one turns up your going to get disheartened. However this is a typical example of something we as a club are doing wrong, no sorting out meets and not turning up to the ones that are. As I've said this isn't personal I'm merely highlighting how bad this has become nationwide.

 

Best thing you did was re-subscribe...you aint stopped since pressing the "pay now" button:tongue:. Seriously though this thread is very intresting with some strong valid points been made:wink:

Im doing my bit i scraped a perfectly good shell

 

You could just have rubbed the scrape down and painted it. Getting rid if the whole car seems a bit extreme:innocent:

Best thing you did was re-subscribe...you aint stopped since pressing the "pay now" button:tongue:. Seriously though this thread is very intresting with some strong valid points been made:wink:

 

Thankyou, what im worried about though is that it will fall on deaf ears.

Thankyou, what im worried about though is that it will fall on deaf ears.

 

Well all of us are like a slow running river in this club...we tend to erode new paths and bends slowly but when we do its a permanent and improved river;)

Well I'm here to get that river moving a bit faster, lets call it flood season. If the committee want or needs anything of me id love to know, id really like to hear more members opinions and options.

Reading and thinking over this thread with great interest!!! Please bear in mind I am a relatively new member.

I think for me (and probably a lot of owners to be) the main point here is the availability of reasonably priced replacement parts. I'm not saying they are currently unavailable, because I think through the suppliers already mentioned and the club, most parts can be found. However, there is clearly not a long list of suppliers and that seems a bit scarey!! We cannot expect to rely on 2nd hand parts forever. If there is something we can do by working together, then I for one will be more than happy to help. I think the idea of having a list of compatible parts on other models is a great idea. Forgive me if there is one, I've forgotten some of the previous posts. ;)

I would also like to point out that I am one of the users that only uses the site on my phone, I really don't have that much access to home laptop/pc due to children :( I raise this point because the online search feature is not that great on a phone and the "rep" system simply doesn't appear. Now I know this is not a fault of guys that create this site, but I think people should be aware that some of the actions of the users happen because they are not on a laptop/pc.

The main thing (imo) is that there are experienced people on here that are worried about the future of our cars and that, to me as a bit of a newbie is very worrying. Raising the profile of our cars can only help, and this thread has made me realise that. I hope others read this thread too and we all start doing what we can to help.

I've been watching and reading every post on this thread, loving the enthusiasm Mr Bolt (what's your name btw?)...

 

I think you need to be appointed by the committee as a new projects/marketing manager... Have you ever heard of lean six sigma? You could overhaul the club, I'm a black belt do I'll be the deputy!

 

In all seriousness though, I used to live near Bournemouth and was in the south central region. We used to have very regular meets, some small, some large and they were always a great laugh.

 

Joel

I think its buisness that dictates how much exposure a paticular car gets more than its owners or car clubs...Deemon Tweeks atm lists almost nothing for our cars and also a few more tuning places too.I dont think anyone running any buisness would put on its shelves 10 sets of 300zx intercoolers when they could sell 5 times as many for say the Evo or scooby.Look in any car mag and in some cases even Jap mags and see the ratio of tuning bits for our cars compared to other jap cars,its an eye opener. Getting anyone to make and provide patten parts (metal or plastic) is going to be almost impossible given the initial tooling cost for injection moulding or a press...My mate had an injection mould tool made for a cold water restriction valve for infant schools which was no bigger than a 10p piece and it cost him 15K.

As i have just recently found out, handbrake shoes. Nissan discontinued them last year.

 

now available through concetpua tuning, a uk based company that are gaining a really good reputation. They are on my hit list.

Reading and thinking over this thread with great interest!!! Please bear in mind I am a relatively new member.

I think for me (and probably a lot of owners to be) the main point here is the availability of reasonably priced replacement parts. I'm not saying they are currently unavailable, because I think through the suppliers already mentioned and the club, most parts can be found. However, there is clearly not a long list of suppliers and that seems a bit scarey!! We cannot expect to rely on 2nd hand parts forever. If there is something we can do by working together, then I for one will be more than happy to help. I think the idea of having a list of compatible parts on other models is a great idea. Forgive me if there is one, I've forgotten some of the previous posts. ;)

I would also like to point out that I am one of the users that only uses the site on my phone, I really don't have that much access to home laptop/pc due to children :( I raise this point because the online search feature is not that great on a phone and the "rep" system simply doesn't appear. Now I know this is not a fault of guys that create this site, but I think people should be aware that some of the actions of the users happen because they are not on a laptop/pc.

The main thing (imo) is that there are experienced people on here that are worried about the future of our cars and that, to me as a bit of a newbie is very worrying. Raising the profile of our cars can only help, and this thread has made me realise that. I hope others read this thread too and we all start doing what we can to help.

 

Thankyou for your input, merely being an active member is a great way to help, and don't worry we will find a solution to part sourcing.

I think its buisness that dictates how much exposure a paticular car gets more than its owners or car clubs...Deemon Tweeks atm lists almost nothing for our cars and also a few more tuning places too.I dont think anyone running any buisness would put on its shelves 10 sets of 300zx intercoolers when they could sell 5 times as many for say the Evo or scooby.Look in any car mag and in some cases even Jap mags and see the ratio of tuning bits for our cars compared to other jap cars,its an eye opener. Getting anyone to make and provide patten parts (metal or plastic) is going to be almost impossible given the initial tooling cost for injection moulding or a press...My mate had an injection mould tool made for a cold water restriction valve for infant schools which was no bigger than a 10p piece and it cost him 15K.

 

Yeah, getting business's within the uk to start making parts is going to be hard, and something that will happen later once the profile has been raised, that's a long term goal. It however may be a folly, the part availability from the us is fantastic, and the pricing better, maybe our relations with this are what need to be addressed so that we have better access to parts there. This is why I was keen to speak to companies like AMS they have the parts we need, we don't have them, easy answer lets get them, they will sell directly to the forum members. Their business model with the Aus forum is great and they do some awesome deals, the market is about the same size as ours but is far better catered for.

Totally agree with your first part, but air filters don't change the shape of a car so you have one of those lol.

 

Not many of these cars are coming into this country now, many are off the road never to see tarmac again ( not having a dig at anyone in this situation ) times are tough and these cars are not the cheapest to run and maintain. Plus with the dreaded tin worm these cars are slowly vanishing from our roads plus the few cars involved written off in accidents.

 

How many 300's in the country do we have any numbers.

 

How many being broken at any one time?

 

Am talking B*llocks, this does not require an answer lol

 

No your not these are two very important questions, how many are left in the Uk and how many of those are road or track worthy. How many of the actual amount are members of the owners club, far less than you think and far less than id like is the current answer. Why arn't these owners joining us? its in their and our interest for them to do so. There would be far more of them with tax and test if they had access to the help available on here. Something about how we are doing things isn't attracting these rouge individuals, or we are simply not known of for these people to find us. I know a quick google, but that isn't working a more public image is required.

A lot of us can agree that poorly fitting fibreglass parts is not the best look for a zed but surely people should be allowed to express their uniqueness and ideas without getting told everytime that people hate the look that they have chosen. There is a lot of threads about of people showing off mods that i think look terrible but its their car they can crack on with it and try something different.

 

Personally I really don't care what others think of modded Zeds I am happy with mine the way I made it and it certainly gets some attention when i drive it around - which was suprsiing ly lacking before I modded it!!

Now for the bit some of you are going to get touchy about and im sorry but is needs addressing now because its got beyond a joke. I mentioned it earlier and it was breezed over.

REO's, now remember im not picking on anyone. I will now list the REO's as listed on the site and the last event they organised.

south east yassa:

4/9/2011 in fairness to the guy, suggested meets weren't even replied to on a few occasions. Having said that he hasn't even logged on since October.

south central BigH:

14/1/2012 how many turned up? several events and meets have happened since this in south central

devon and cornwall:

VACANT

Avon Somerset and Glos:Murt

Actaully stood down on the 12th of may 2012, it just hasn't been updated.

Thames valley:ZX-TT

red lyon meets have been occurring upto, Christmas last year, however zx-tt hasn't organised one since 31/10/2011

East Anglia:osty1

only took over on the 10th of march

midlands:jeff and Jamie

22/5/11 looks like other meets have occurred, but reo appointed one that's the last day I could see publicly advertised in the section.

north east and yorks:

VACANT

North west:turb0z & Quavey

21/08/2012

I will carry on and do the others but that's England, and theres a definite trend, were not talking the winter was rubbish were talking long term lack of meets. I do not blame the reo's if no one turns up your going to get disheartened. However this is a typical example of something we as a club are doing wrong, no sorting out meets and not turning up to the ones that are. As I've said this isn't personal I'm merely highlighting how bad this has become nationwide.

 

 

 

As a total aside I started to promote the classic car show at Trentham (my other thread) yeah I thought there were a lack of events in the Midlands, but did ask the apprpriate REO if it was OK for me to post this event here. Hell they may even come along on the day :biggrin:

 

Looks like we have enough attending for a club stand too

 

So some of us are making some efforts in the right direction it seems

From a manufacturers point of view with new parts it boils down to 2 things;

 

1) How many will we sell to cover costs

2) Do I know what they need

 

So from the SFS point of view unless I had a Z we wouldn't of developed the 5 new hose kits or scuttle panels. It's only because I know the cars and the club. Developing new parts cost time and money so we need to know we will make what you need and sell enough to cover these costs and make a profit.

 

So how does this relate to how we can improve things, there is a long list of parts needed so maybe draw up a list and group them into product types like exhaust, panels, brakes etc and then decide what we need most be it upgrades or just to keep our cars going. Then maybe a newly appointed "Parts developer" approaches a manuafcturer of said parts to open dialog about what we need and what they can offer.

 

We developed the scuttles as I know the OE ones rot and because of the group buy, that was enough to cover the set up but we now need to sell more to move into profit. We've developed loads of kits because clubs have approached us and started dialog and a GB develops, they get the parts, we sell enough to cover the set up.

 

Bottom line is

If they don't know about us they can't make it annd if we don't ask we don't get.

 

Your on the ball Anthony and the production of quality parts is the way forward, the scuttle panels are fab, ive seen them in real life. you've solved two problems with that and I really praise you for it.

I've been watching and reading every post on this thread, loving the enthusiasm Mr Bolt (what's your name btw?)...

 

I think you need to be appointed by the committee as a new projects/marketing manager... Have you ever heard of lean six sigma? You could overhaul the club, I'm a black belt do I'll be the deputy!

 

In all seriousness though, I used to live near Bournemouth and was in the south central region. We used to have very regular meets, some small, some large and they were always a great laugh.

 

Joel

 

cheers joel, its steve. :) yeah we have a real good tight knit crew in Bournemouth who are happy to crack on with the spanners and welcome any new member. Hopefully we can extend our mentality and ways throughout the club. it seems we have pockets of bloody good members, we just need to drag in the ones roaming the wild unaware of us.

just look at all the traders the 200sx guys have!

 

Traders Forum

(8 Viewing)

SXOC Authorised Traders

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

800bhp (52/429)

 

Aerokit (2/7)

 

 

Apex Performance Parts

 

Automotive Performance Tuning (458/3553)

 

 

DB-Power (1458/18474)

 

Detailing Jem (113/1008)

 

 

DriftBitz (162/539)

 

Driftgarage (8/85)

 

 

Driftworks Ltd (408/2350)

 

Emperor Garage (14/44)

 

 

EP Racing (272/1989)

 

Fuyai Import (1/5)

 

 

GDUK Jap Parts (289/982)

 

Horsham Developments (410/2434)

 

 

Japspeed Performance Parts (255/6569)

 

JDM Garage UK (125/454)

 

 

Mazworx Racing (85/474)

 

Opie Oils (343/2883)

 

 

Project-D (33/289)

 

Rare Rims (41/692)

 

 

SFS Performance (56/490)

 

SRBPower Ltd (2477/24543)

just look at all the traders the 200sx guys have!

 

Traders Forum

(8 Viewing)

SXOC Authorised Traders

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

800bhp (52/429)

 

Aerokit (2/7)

 

 

Apex Performance Parts

 

Automotive Performance Tuning (458/3553)

 

 

DB-Power (1458/18474)

 

Detailing Jem (113/1008)

 

 

DriftBitz (162/539)

 

Driftgarage (8/85)

 

 

Driftworks Ltd (408/2350)

 

Emperor Garage (14/44)

 

 

EP Racing (272/1989)

 

Fuyai Import (1/5)

 

 

GDUK Jap Parts (289/982)

 

Horsham Developments (410/2434)

 

 

Japspeed Performance Parts (255/6569)

 

JDM Garage UK (125/454)

 

 

Mazworx Racing (85/474)

 

Opie Oils (343/2883)

 

 

Project-D (33/289)

 

Rare Rims (41/692)

 

 

SFS Performance (56/490)

 

SRBPower Ltd (2477/24543)

 

So are you after more traders here?? as i see it groover (Graham) has done a grand job as of late introducing more traders by various methods into the club.

There are alot of traders on that list who do similar or same products, which is fine for a large member or car base club, the problem with having too many of the same type of trader here, there would not be enough business to warrant being a trader here.

Having an exclusive trader (to a certain degree) here makes it more viable for them to operate, thats not to say healthy competition isnt a bad thing, it may bring down prices for parts, but for OEM parts for example there isnt a huge mark up in the first place.

 

We have 14 traders, two of which are on the same list. Always on the lookout for more that would be suitable for the club

Its not that I want all of them, rather that its an example of what other clubs have available. However bringing in traders for things we dont currently have is a good step and as you know something im investigating. However you the committe will have the power if this can go ahead obviously.

Its not that I want all of them, rather that its an example of what other clubs have available. However bringing in traders for things we dont currently have is a good step and as you know something im investigating. However you the committe will have the power if this can go ahead obviously.

 

But as i see it Steve this is now steering away from parts overseas that we cant get to parts that we can get even iff the trader is not connected to this club...all the traders you have listed have uk sites and we all know this as we buy from them.The main objective of this thread was asking why there are "better" parts available in the US and not here and its this problem that should be addressed not getting more traders all selling the same gear here.